London: Ugadi celebrations were organised in the United Kingdom by Telugu Association of London (TAL) at Sattavis Patidar Center here on Saturday. Over 1,000 Telugus from in and around London participated in the programme.

As part of celebrations, the students of TAL Cultural Center sang and danced on traditional, devotional and film music and participated in various other programmes. Nearly, hundred kids attended the three-month dance training camps which were organised exclusively for the Ugadi celebrations.

TAL Chairperson Bharathi Kandukuri, Vice-Chairman & Treasurer Rajesh Toleti, Other Trustees Giridhar Putlur, Anita Nomula, Anil Anantula, Ravinder Reddy Gummakonda, Navin Gadamsethi and Kishore Kasturi were among those who graced the event.

Tollywood actor Sai Kumar, who was the chief guest, shared a few bits from his 50 year-long cinematic experience with the audience. He enthralled the audience with popular dialogues from his Telugu movies. He also reproduced Kannada dialogues for the Kannada audience. He lauded the efforts of Telugu Association of London for preserving and promoting Telugu culture on the foreign soil. Later, the popular actor launched TAL's magazine called ‘Maa Telugu’.

On this occasion, the TPL Committee unveiled the poster of the upcoming prestigious 20-20 cricket tournament. The TAL Premier League tournament is organised by TAL every year. The tournament is scheduled to commence from May 6.

In Pics: Telugu Association of London holds Ugadi celebrations in the UK

Eminent surgeon Dr. Raghuram Pillarisetty, who founded KIMS Usha Lakshmi Center for Breast Diseases was given the TAL Lifetime Achievement Award. He praised the service being rendered by the TAL for the Telugu-speaking community in the United Kingdom.

Minister (Coordination) of the High Commission of India in London, Deepak Choudhary, London Borough of Hounslow Mayor Raghuvinder Singh and famous mountaineer and world martial arts champion Anmish Verma were other guests at the event.

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